Page 132 of Two Kinds of Stranger

I ran to the edge, grabbing the balcony railing. Lake and Bloch joined me on either side and stared into the darkness below. We saw the man falling, hitting the water with a terribleschtoooomsound, like a missile breaking a wave. The splash was ten feet high, white water flowing through the air and crashing back down.

Rolling red and blue lights painted the green iron bridge as the sirens roared to a stop.

For five minutes, none of us moved. We stared at the water, looking for signs of life.

There were none.

54

Eddie

You have to choose your moment carefully.

Trial law can be like chess.

You know the final move, the winning move, will be made with your queen. But before that move is made you have to cut off the other means of escape for your opponent’s king. That winning move comes from the dozens of little moves before it. The strategic placements of rooks, knights and even pawns. Some of your pieces will be lost, and that’s fine. As long as you meant to sacrifice them.

And then, when it’s the perfect time, your queen slides across the board and it’s game over.

Checkmate.

Dr. Death had changed his suit from yesterday. This one was a navy pinstripe, with a pale blue shirt and black bowtie. His expression hadn’t changed, though. He still wore that demeanor of professional boredom.

I played the video from yesterday, just a minute or so, and paused it right at the moment when Dr. Death reached into the casket with tweezers, just after the lid had been removed.

‘Just to remind the jury of what you’d said yesterday, Doctor. You said that you were completely satisfied that between the casket being exhumed and it being opened in your lab, there was no possible way for anyone to interfere with its contents, correct?’

‘Correct,’ he said.

‘So this casket was sealed and showed no signs of any interference?’

‘Yes.’

‘And, furthermore, you are one hundred per cent sure that the same person murdered all three victims?’

‘Correct.’

I played the video for twenty seconds, then paused it.

‘Doctor, you found something at the foot of the casket. This video shows you removing it with tweezers. What did you find?’

‘A dead moth.’

‘A moth? Is that unusual to find in caskets?’

‘I think I may have even mentioned it at the time. Most funeral parlors keep some spare clothes around. Suits and dresses, that kind of thing, in case they have to perform a burial where the deceased person, or their family, don’t have appropriate clothing for the body. It wouldn’t be unusual to find moths where you store old clothes.’

‘I take it you retained this moth for evidence?’

‘Yes, that’s standard protocol. And we took photographs.’

I asked for a blown-up photograph to be shown on the screen.

‘Is this the photograph of what you found in the casket?’

‘Yes.’

I asked for a different photograph to be displayed and entered as a defense exhibit.